Running From Fate
by mimura no miko 19
Summary: Battle Royale- the killing list is a bit different, and someone is still alive. When he meets up with the three main heroes, what will happen next? Shougo Kawada has a previous history before returning, and it's not what they were expecting at all...
1. Death of a Friend and an Enemy

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Disclaimer: I don't own Battle Royale, Kinji Fukusaku-san does. And I decided to play around with the order of death a bit, so what you see here is my take on the film! Have fun, guys!

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Running From Fate

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"Sometimes life is a mystery. You don't know what's going to happen to you, you don't know what fate will throw at you. All that's in your head now is to survive until the end. I really hate that. It's shit!"

Mimura Shinji, Boy #19-Battle Royale

* * *

Evening, Day 2

E-4

Warehouse Hideout

"Let's get this shit over with!"

Shinji Mimura hastily picked up his laptop, stuffed it into his backpack, and ran like hell from their hideout where the explosives were hidden, Hiroki Sugimura and Keita Iijima at his heels.

"Come on, you two! Let's get out of here before Kiriyama finds us!" he yelled.

They all ran as fast as they could for the warehouse dor, but as they got outside, they saw a horribly familiar head of pale-orange hair. It was their worst nightmare come to life, with his guns ablaze: Kazuo Kiriyama.

The three stared at each other helplessly, then Keia ran back inside, panic overtaking his sanity.

At this, Kiriyama immediately opened fire at the retreating figure, and he fell dead in his tracks.

Keita Iijima (36) . Six students left.

"D...did he have the lighter...?" Hiroki asked him.

"Not that I know of... I think..."

Shinji whispered conspiratorially, "I have it with me. Lucky I had the foresight to ask for it from him..."

"Good thinking, Shinji..."

Kiriyama seemed to hesitate for a second, then switched his weapons.

Hiroki and Shinji nodded at each other, then ran in opposite directions while he was distracted.

Both were hidden in the surrounding forest when Kiriyama looked up. Seeing that his prey had vanished, his face became a twisted mask of fury.

Without hesitation, he opened fire with the machine gun he had in his hands, spraying bullets into the forest.

Hiroki was making his way to where Shinji was crouched down, his laptop open when the bullet rain attacked the surrounding foilage.

"Who would've known that this place would become a danger zone!" he whispered as he reached him, who had managed to hack his way yet again into the Act's main computer grid.

"I'm checking the list now..."

His fingers flew over the keyboard, and the screen lit up a second later.

"Shit," Hiroki cursed silently. "Only six people left..."

"Well, it's better than none," Shinji answered quite crossly.

"Who's still on the grid?"

"Asides from us and that homicidal maniac, Nanahara, Noriko, and Kawada are still alive. But, they've gone off the island grid... and their collars haven't gone off yet..."

"So they're safe..."

"Yeah, for now..."

Another round of bullets whizzed overhead, and they both ducked. Then total, complete silence.

"He's trying to draw us out..."

"I know, Hiroki..."

Kiriyama saw an unnatural light in the darkness of the foilage, and made his way towards it. At that exact same time, Shinji crawled away from his position, unaware that his laptop was giving him away.

"He can see your laptop, Shinji!"

"What...?"

"Close it, Shinji, close it!" Hiroki hissed at him, who was a bit further away from where he was hidden.

He didn't understand at first, but Hiroki started motioning with his hands rapidly. A confused expression crossed Shinji's face, then he understood. He banged it shut, which was a big mistake.

Kiriyama heard this sound, and his head snapped around. He then made his way to where Shinji was hidden, gun blazing. He then fired another round blindly into the forest foilage.

"Holy...shit!" one of them exclaimed.

Hiroki crawled as fast as he could to where Shinji was sprawled flat on his stomach, clutching his laptop, and berating himself at the same time. But when he got close enough, a stray bullet from Kiriyama's gun hit his shoulder, and he winced out loud.

Shinji slapped his forehead in frustration. Kiriyama left his gun on automatic, letting his hand control the weapon's firing direction, and he let fly another round of bullets into the forest.

"Come on, Hiroki!" Shinji hissed.

He crawled blindly, unable to see where Shinji really was, and avoiding the bullet spray at the same time it whizzed overhead.

"Don't give your position away!" Shinji hissed again. "Don't give your position away!"

But the warning came too late, for Hiroki raised his head an inch, and a bullet caught him in the head.

"Oh, shit," he snarled, watching Hiroki fall.

He was still alive, but barely. He managed to reach Shinji, but he was dying fast.

"Shinji... run!" he moaned.

"Hiroki... what were you thinking, doing that! Are you crazy!"

"I did it for a reason," he continued softly. "You have to survive..."

"What are you saying...?"

"Get to Nanahara... and the other two... and get off this island!"

"But what about you?"

"Leave me here... I'll draw Kiriyama away from you... you must find the three... and kill him... before he kills you all!"

Hiroki took one final look at Shinji Mimura, and died with a smile on his face.

Hiroki Sugimura (37) . Five students left.

"Oh, shit..."

Crawling as fast as he could, he managed to put some distance between him and Kiriyama. He then rolled over onto his back, and slid his backpack out from underneath him. Opening it silently, he slid his laptop in and closed it as silently as he could. Then he ran for it.

* * *

Kiriyama had found Hiroki's body, and took the tracker as his own. But he had this feeling that there was another person hiding in the forest. He opened the tracker, and took a look at the remaining dots running around.

Of the four he saw, three were clumped together, headed back towards sector D6. The fourth one was headed back to the warehouse, and it was here he confirmed his earlier suspicion: Shinji Mimura was still alive.

Snarling furiously, he, too, made his way back to the warehouse. But he didn't know what Shinji was planning...

Even if he knew that the place he was running back to was a danger zone, Shinji had an insane plan in mind. And he was hoping that it would work.

* * *

Running back into the warehouse, he saw the batches of hurriedly-made explosives scattered haphazardly around the place, abandoned in extreme haste.

He then looked out at the open door of the warehouse, and saw Keita's lifeless form lying a few feet from the entrance, and a plan clicked into his mind.He hastily made his way to where his friend lay, and dragged him closer to the pile of explosives, cursing silently as a bloody trail formed, caused by the still-bleeding wounds.

"Shit, shit, shit..." he said to himself over and over, seeing the obvious evidence form around him. Then a brainstorm hit him.

Leaving Keita where he lay, he made his way to where he knew that there were stocks of petroleum hidden in the place. He pulled out a bottle of water from his backpack, opened it, and drained it in one go. After finishing all the water, he reached for a crowbar and pried the first can open, then submerged it into the liquid.

Wrinkling his nose at the strong smell, he scooped up the bottle that was now full of the pungent-smelling liquid, and ran back to the bloody trail, and drained the contents all over it. Risking a second round, he ran back and this time, poured it all over Keita's body and the pile of explosives behind him.

No sooner he had finished this, Kiriyama appeared at the doorway, guns out and ready. Shinji froze in his tracks, the lighter in his hands. He immmediateky opened fire at Shinji, then snarled as he saw that he was firing blanks.

"Nice try, Kiriyama," he said, a smirk forming on his lips. In answer, he gave him the finger, fury etched all over his face. Then he reached behind his back. A few seconds later, he had a short sword in his hands, then made his way to where Shinji was standing, petrified.

His brain was in panic mode, and he forced himself to run backwards, clicking the lighter all the while. Kiriyama, who was still preoccupied with killing Shinji, didn't notice the pile of explosives which now reeked with the petroleum Shinji had poured all over it. Then Shinji threw the lighter, and ran out of the warehouse like hell, never looking back.

It took the better part of five minutes that Kiriyama noticed that his prey was gone. Then he saw the flying lighter that landed on the petroleum trail.

Oh, fuck, he thought angrily. I'm caught in a trap! A trap laid down by the Third Man himself! He's going to blow up the whole fuckin' warehouse with me in it!

As the lighter landed on the puddle, he didn't do anything at all. He just stood there, like a preacher with his arms spread wide out.

Blow me to kingdom come, Shinji Mimura. But I swear that you'll follow me to where I'm headed...

Goodbye, cruel world! were his final living thoughts before the rapidly spreading flames scorched his skin into oblivion.

Kazuo Kiriyama (38) . Four students left.

After running what seemed like forever to him, Shinji decided to stop and finally collapsed beaide a tree. Taking out his laptop, he swiped a download of the island, complete with the list. Only four names were still lit in green, and the third and final day was fast approaching. Looking around him, he decided to take a nap.


	2. Encounters And Surprises

Morning, Day 3

E-6

Somewhere in the forest

Nanahara, who was leaning on a staff, turned around to look at Noriko and Kawada. THe other youth had produced yet another stick of Northern Lights, and was now puffing it, unmindful of the stares he got from Noriko.

He then said, quite crossly, "Kawada. I have a question. Why don't you want to kill us two?"

"I don't exactly know," he answered a while later. "Listen, i have my reasons. I don't want anybody to know about it."

"Fine, then," Nanahara huffed in answer. "I don't frickin' care either."

"Easy, you two," Noriko said at last. "Don't go at each other. This is the final day. Let's just wait it out, and get out of here..."

"If we can get off here, Noriko, if we can get off here..." was all that Nanahara had to say.

Kawada had one hand on his own weapon, and was watching the rear, another hand laced around what seemed to be another stick of Northern Lights.

"Okay, I've had it. I'm coming clean."

"About frickin' time too," Nanahara said to himself.

"Now you two listen well, because I'm going to say this only once. I know how these," he broke off, indicating the collar on his neck, "are rigged up. I know what systems have been entered into this thing's main chips, everything. You see, I want to cause an imbalance in the Program. See what happens if more than one person survrvies all this bullshit. Now I need a computer of some sort."

"But where on this island will we find something like that?" Noriko asked, puzzled.

"I have this feeling we're not the only ones left. I just know."

THey happened to pass by where Shinji was seated, laptop in his hands. It started buzzing loudly, waking the young hacker up.

He stared at the screen, and saw that the three dots were right next to him.

"Ohayou, Shinji Mimura," Kawada said to him.

In surprise, the hacker drew his weapon and pointed it at him. A bit surprised, Kawada did the same.

"Oh, it's only you and..." he began, when he saw the other two with him.

"What happened to you...?" Nanahara asked him curiously.

He answered, "To make a long story short, my friends are gone, but I got to Kiriyama first. Sorry, Kawada... guess I got lucky."

"Oh..." Kawada answered.

"You... you really got him?" she asked.

"Yeah, but... Hiroki's gone. Died smiling."

"He is...?" Nanahara said, shocked.

"Yeah, he is..." Shinji trailed off.

"But I killed Kirityama, so that sort of makes up for it."

"Holy shit... you really got him?" the two boys said, stunned.

"Let's just say I got lucky this time."

"Well, anyway... seeing that you're the only one with a computer, Shinji... can you get into the main grid?"

These words made Shinji smirk slightly.

"If I can get you in there, I can do it with my hands behind my back. So what do you want me to do?"

"Just get inside, and I'll take care of these... fuckin' collars."

"Okay, Kawada, you asked for it," Shinji answered, typing like crazy.

After five fast and furious minutes, he swiveled his laptop so that it faced Kawada.

"Now what?"

"Let me take it from here."

Kawada took the laptop, and started typing like crazy as well, muttering to himself.

After fifteen minutes (five for each collar), he said simply, "Done."

"Oh, come on, Kawada... that fast?"

"Look for yourselves."

The three crowded around him and saw that only one name was still highlighted in green, and that their own collars had gone offline.

"Whoa, Kawada... you are good," Noriko said to him, amazed.

"Yeah, but not as good as Shinji is. I can hack, but not that much yet."

"Anyway, nice bit of hacking," Shinji told him in awe. "Really, even i didn't know how to do that... if I did it... we'd all be gone."

"I know how these things work, just that. If we're going to get our asses out of here, then I suggest we get moving. D-6 awaits."

Shinji closed his laptop, and the four walked off, headed in the direction of the school.

* * *

Late Morning, Day 3

D-6

Classroom 3B

Kitano was livid.

In the longest time he had been supervising the Act, he had never seen an occurence like this.

"Four little sons of bitches are still alive!" he roared into the cellphone's mouthpiece.

"Well, Sir... even if the collar grids shoe only one is still online, in reality, there are four remaining. Very much alive."

"You bastards! Why did you let a fuckin' hacker gain access to the grids!" he yelled. "Now we have this problem to deal with! Ass!"

"But, Sir..."

"I don't care! I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses! Kill those little morons, for all I care!"

"But, that would be-"

"I...DON'T...FUCKIN'...CARE! Kill them all! This season will be different! Nobody will survive!"

"The grids show that shougo Kawada's collar is still online. so what should we do?"

"I don't know with you lowlifes! Useless pieces of shit! Kill him, for all I care! Detonae his collar, NOW!"

"But, Sir, we..."

"Hell, I don't care what the rules say. He caused this imbalance, so we must right it. Kill him!"

Silence from the other end of the line.

"I'm waiting..."

Before the person on the other end could answer, the phone in his hands exploded into a thousand pieces.

"Really, Kitano... you'd kill me?" someone snapped, a pistol in his hands.

Kawada, Noriko, Nanahara and Shinji stood at the doorway, staring at him, disgusted looks on their faces.

"So you'd do me in... bad idea, Kitano. I'd kill you first."

"So you came... very good, ny students... Noriko, Nanahara, and Shinji."

The three stared at him, completely disgusted.

"What the fuck are you saying, Kitano... I don't know you," Nanahara answered.

"So do I, Nanahara... he's such a pain. After he killed Kuminobu right in front of us, I don't know if he's even human..." Shinji added.

Noriko just stared innocently. Kawada was stunned.

"I'm not one of you guys...?" he said before Kitano started raving again.

"Yes, Shougo Kawada, you're not one of us, asshole, you're just a transfer student. So is Kazuo Kiriyama. I thought you knew about this already..."

"So what are you trying to say?" Shinji asked him.

"All of you. All of you are delinquents! You morons..."

"Delinquents? We're all... delinquents?" he shouted.

"Not Noriko Nakagawa. She's innocent. Even so, she had to be included in this sad, fuckin' sorry state."

"So what?" Nanahara yelled at Kitano. "She doesn't care if she's been branded as one of the delinquents. She freakin' DOES NOT CARE!"

At this statement, Kitano drew out a gun, and pointed it at Nanahara.

"Shut up, you arrogant bastard," he snarled. "Shut up, Nanahara."

"I am NOT arrogant!" Nanahara yelled in fury. "I'm just saying what's on my mind! So don't tell me what to do!"

The finger around the trigger of Kitano's gun tightened its grip, and he spoke back, barely biting back the anger in his voice.

"Don't talk back to me, Shuya. You have no right to shout at me. You may be angry, but you must remember, you're still a student. So will you fuckin' shut up, Shuya?"

Nanahara shrieked, "Nobody...calls me... Shuya!"

Shinji quickly passed him his handgun, and five seconds later, both of them were staring deep into the barrels of each other's guns.

"Even if you blasted my cellphone, there's still a way in which your collars can explode. And only I know about it."

Kawada's hand tensed on his shotgun, sensing that there was imminent danger in the air. Noriko quietly made her way to the classroom's blackboard, and something morbid caught her attention.

"Whoa….. what is that?" she said, unable to hide the shock in her voice.


End file.
